Pubdate: Sat, 16 Dec 2017
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2017 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author: Susan Baldrige
ORGAN DONATIONS FROM FATAL DRUG OVERDOSES DOUBLE
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Charles Grugan's drug addiction took a toll on
his family.
They tried to help him, but on Oct. 12, 2011, Grugan 33, overdosed on
heroin. He never recovered.
While on life support in a regional hospital, doctors approached his
family and showed them his driver's license.
Grugan had made the decision to be an organ donor when he was 18 years
old.
His heart, liver and kidneys were successfully transplanted into three
people.
"It was a silver lining for us," Grugan's' mother, Eileen Grugan,
said. "Donating Charles' organs to others was the thing that kept our
family together and pulled us through this grief.
"I really don't know how we would have gotten through it," she
said.
'Out of tragedy, you can save a lot of lives'
Nationally, organ donations from someone who died of a drug overdose
doubled from 625 in 2014 to more than 1,200 by the end of 2016,
according to the Organization for Organ Procurement and
Transportation.
Regionally, so far in 2017, the Gift of Life Program said of the 472
people who donated organs, 134 of those died of a drug overdose.
"I think it's a tragedy having such a large number of people dying
from drug overdoses. On the other hand, organ donation is very
important. Out of tragedy you can save a lot of lives."
According to the Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization, 37 people
from Lancaster County were organ donors over the past two years. Nine
of them were overdose victims who died in one of the county's four
hospitals.
"Twenty people die every day in the U.S. waiting for an organ," said
Rick Hasz, vice president of clinical services for Gift of Life.
Eastern Pennsylvania, which includes Lancaster County, is part of Gift
of Life's coverage area. The organization partners with all four
hospitals in the county and has recovered organs here from people who
have fatally overdosed on drugs.
"I think it's a tragedy having such a large number of people dying
from drug overdoses," said Dr. Zakiyah Kadry, a transplant surgeon at
Penn State Hershey Medical Center. "On the other hand, organ donation
is very important. Out of tragedy you can save a lot of lives."
'Overdose donors'
Kadry said she has used organs for transplants that have come from
people who fatally overdosed in recent years.
"The overdose donors are young and have relatively healthy organs,"
Kadry said, noting every organ goes through rigorous testing to see if
there are any infections, including hepatitis C and HIV.
She also said every recipient is made fully aware of where their organ
is coming from and what condition it is in.
"You have to remember that people who are on the list to receive an
organ are typically very sick and are usually very happy to have the
organ," Kadry said.
Hasz said nationally there are about 117,000 people on the waiting
list for an organ transplant. He said last year there were 33,000
organs available for transplants.
According to Gift of Life, the average age of a typical organ donor is
48, while the average age of an organ donor who died of a drug
overdose is 32.
Eileen Grugan remembers returning to the family's Delaware County home
and finding her son in an "odd position" on a chair with his eyes
open. She said she felt his skin, and it was cold.
"I called 911, and they tried to talk me through CPR," she said. "The
paramedics came, but they didn't carry Narcan at that time. All of a
sudden an officer walked into the house and started CPR."
After several minutes of CPR, the police officer found a faint pulse
and her son was rushed to the hospital, she said.
Although the hospital was able to keep him breathing and his heart
pumping artificially, four different tests showed there were no brain
waves. He was pronounced dead.
"That is a critical time for the family to think about organ
donation," Hasz said. "You are talking to a family at the worst time
in their whole lives and asking them to make a decision."
Hasz said families see a heart beat on the monitor and see their loved
one "breathing" and are often hesitant to let them go.
Hasz said data shows about half of the families in that position
typically turn down a decision to donate organs and about half regret
that decision six months later.
When the doctors showed the family Grugan's driver's license with the
organ donor notation, "It was like the arm of God wrapped around us to
show us another way," his mother said.
She, her husband and their son's two sisters decided to donate his
organs.
'I'm meant to do something great'
Eileen Grugan said the family hoped and prayed that her son's organs
"would be OK to do this gift."
The Grugan family have received responses from the three people who
received his heart, liver and kidneys, and they hope to to one day
meet the people who are alive because of his organs.
"Charles used to say, 'I'm meant to something great, I just don't know
what it is, I just know it's going to happen.' Charles did do
something special with his life. He just never knew what it was going
to be."
"It's such an easy thing to do, for people to sign up to be organ
donors," Hasz said. "It makes the decision that much easier for a family."
He said people can register to become an organ donor at
donors1.org.
"Charles used to say, 'I'm meant to something great, I just don't know
what it is, I just know it's going to happen,' " his mother said.
"Charles did do something special with his life," she said. "He just
never knew what it was going to be."
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MAP posted-by: Matt